Oracle Service Contracts Lifecycle Management

Service Contracts Life Cycle Management: Pathway to Higher Profits Mohan Dutt VeriSign Inc

Session Objectives • Introduce EBS Release12 new features for service contracts life cycle management • Discuss implementation steps for EBS Release12 new features • Learn any dependencies for implementing the EBS Release 12 new features • Highlight key benefits of implementation of EBS Release 12 new features

New & Enhanced R12 Features • Renewal Negotiation Lifecycle Management • Administrator Workbench • Improvements to Online Acceptance Portal • Enhanced Communication Templates • Flexible Approval Rules • Enhanced Auto-Reminder Process

Renewal Negotiation Lifecycle Management • All renewal contracts will be part of the renewal negotiation workflow. • The renewal workflow will manage each of the stages of the negotiation cycle. • In 11i10, these stages were being managed by sales persons implicitly. • With the new workflow, the system will enable the flow of a renewal contract through each of these stages.

Key Features • Negotiation Status enables more granular status tracking to allow proactive process monitoring and improved visibility during the contract negotiation lifecycle • Internal and External Notifications to alert users improves notifications to contract administrators and customers of actions that they need to take on open contracts • New Approval Options provides support for various contract approval scenarios ranging from manual to fully automated approvals

Negotiation Workflow Stages • There are 5 stages in the renewal negotiation lifecycle • Creation of the renewal contract, either by the renewal event, or manually from contract authoring. • As soon as the renewal contract is created, workflow for that contract is initiated. • System determines the renewal process for the contract which can be manual, online or evergreen.

Negotiation Workflow Stages • System determines the renewal process type based on Global Contract Default setups • The second stage is notifying the customer that a renewal contract has been created and is awaiting approval. • The third stage is customer acceptance during which the contract is in the customer’s queue for acceptance.

Negotiation Workflow Stages • Customer reviews renewal contract and accepts or declines • The fourth stage is Contract Approval. Workflow uses AME to derive the contract approver and routes the contract to approver. • The last stage is Contract Activation where the contract is activated contract on approval. • Contract Status changes to ‘Active’ or ‘Signed’. Negotiation status changes to ‘Complete’

Negotiation Status Attribute • Negotiation status is a new attribute that has been added to the Contract Header as part of workflow. • The purpose of this attribute is to convey where in the workflow a contract is in. • Negotiation status is controlled by the workflow process and cannot be changed by the user. • Current contract status attribute has not been impacted by workflow. Customers can continue using contract status as they are using in 11i10 for processes such as autoreminders.

Negotiation Status Transitions

Negotiation Status on Workbench Negotiation Status indicates current workflow status of the contract

Determine Renewal Process Renewal process follows the Contract qualifies for Contract renewed Contract > Party > Org Y evergreen as evergreen renewal >Global hierarchy to determine the effective value N Example Renewal Evergreen Online Contract Process Threshold Contract renewed Threshold qualifies for Y as online online renewal Party Manual Null $25,000 N Org Null $10,000 $15,000 Contract renewed Global Online $10,000 $10,000 using derived renewal process

Manual Renewal – Next Stages • Options to Notify Customer - Print or Email, Publish quote online using the Online Acceptance Portal • Template set setup determines the format of the quote • Customer Acceptance - Manually by salesperson or Explicitly by customer if the quote has been published online • Contract Approval and Activation - For manual contracts internal approval is optional and is determined by approval flag. If approval is required, salesperson submits for approval. Once contract is approved, workflow activates the contract

Online Renewal – Next Stages • Customer Notification - Quote is automatically published to the online portal through workflow • Customer contact gets an email with online portal login • Template layout setup determines the format of the quote published • Customer Acceptance - Manually by salesperson: Customer Acceptance is implicit OR Explicitly by customer from the Online Acceptance Portal • Internal Approval and Activation – Manual by Salesperson OR Automatic: Contract is submitted for approval right after customer acceptance OR Not Required

Evergreen Renewal – Next Stages • Evergreen contracts have a small lifecycle. They are either ‘Activated’ or ‘submitted for approval’ on renewal. • Sales persons can notify customers by printing or emailing the quote • Customer acceptance is assumed for evergreen contracts • If approval is Required then the contract is Submitted for internal approval right after renewal

Determine Renewal Process Renewal Process can be setup at Contract, Party, Org and Global Levels Thresholds are setup at Party, Org and Global Levels

Setup – Renewal Process Renewal Type has been renamed to Renewal Process R11i10 R12 Renewal Renewal Type Process Notify Manual Salesrep Electronic Online Renewal Submit for Evergreen Approval (with approval) Activate Evergreen Contract (approval not required Do Not Renew Do Not Renew

Setup - Approval Flag Approval flag has to be specified along with renewal process Manual Process Required: Internal approval is Mandatory Not Required: internal approval not required Online Process Automatic:Automatic submission for approval after customer acceptance Manual: Salesperson has to submit for approval Not Required: Contract automatically activated after customer acceptance Evergreen Required: Internal approval is Mandatory Process Not Required: internal approval not required

Setup - Threshold Amt & Currency Threshold Amounts R11i10 R12 Threshold Threshold Active Evergreen Threshold Amount Electronic Online Threshold Acceptance Amount Threshold Currencies R11i10 R12 Currency Currency Credit Card Ledger Threshold Currency Currency currencies Active Currency Threshold have been Electronic amounts have consolidated Renewal Currency been renamed

Administrator Workbench • A configurable workbench that enables sales reps to easily track progress of open service contracts • Notifications Bin allows users to view their notifications • Simple and Advanced Search allows users to quickly search for renewal and new contracts • Shortcuts: Administrators can use the workbench for other activities such as authoring new contracts • Seeded Bins enable users to view contracts in various stages of negotiation • Administrator Actions are available from the My In Process Contracts that allow the administrator to take actions on selected contracts

Administrator Workbench Quick Search enables users to search for new and renewal contracts Notifications for contracts that need attention Shortcuts enable My In Process Contracts users to perform bin displays all open other actions contracts in the user’s queue

Administrator Workbench Bins Default seeded bin with seeded views Displays all contracts where current user is the vendor contact All in-process contracts User can define views to filter contracts Bin has to be enabled using OA Framework personalize features

Administrator Workbench Views Seeded Views enable administrators to view their contracts using various filter criteria View Description All In Process Contracts All new and renewal contracts in 'Entered' status Follow-Up Actions All contracts for which a follow-up action has been entered Online Quotes All contracts having 'Quote Published' negotiation status i.e. quote has been published online for customer acceptance Pending Internal Approval All contracts having 'Pending Internal Approval' negotiation status Pending Quotes All manual and online contracts in entered status that are not pending approval or pending activation Pending Salesrep All contracts having 'Assistance Required' negotiation status Assistance Reminder Sent All contracts that are waiting for customer action (Negotiation Status = 'Quote Sent' or 'Quote Published'), for which reminders have been sent. Renewals All contracts that have been renewed and are currently In Process.

My In-Process Contracts Bin Search results Negotiation Contracts with Icon Indicates can be sorted Status indicates follow-up actions auto-reminders by various current workflow and due date for have been attributes status of the those actions are disabled contract available

In-Process Contracts Bin Actions Multi-contract actions (upper) and single contract actions (lower) These actions are controlled by function security. Administrators can enable these actions for specific users Action Description Publish to Customer Publish contracts for online acceptance Submit for Approval Submit contracts for internal approval Disable Reminders Disable auto reminders from being sent to customers Enable Reminders Enable autoreminders if they have been disabled for selected contracts Run QA Check Run QA check on selected contracts Open Contract Opens the selected contract in Authoring form Email Customer Opens the email page with selected contract information defaulted Print Quote Prints the quote in pdf format

Contracts Bin – E-Mail Actions User navigates to the email customer page from the workbench using the Email Customer action Email page will have To, From and Subject defaulted can define a message –User and attachment using template sets template and –Message attachment template LOVs show all available XML publisher templates for the contract User can also specify a message instead of using a message template

Online Acceptance Portal Online Renewal Portal uses the Oracle Single Sign-on functionality to logon to the acceptance portal Customers can retrieve forgotten usernames and passwords themselves

Online Acceptance Portal Available actions are – Accept, Decline and Request Assistance Clicking quote Contracts pending Flag indicates that displays quote in salesrep the pending Acrobat Reader assistance are contract is a format marked. These renewal contracts can be accepted or declined

Online Acceptance Portal Customers can attach a document such as the image of a PO or check Only acceptable payment methods based on regional requirements are exposed. Customer can enter both new and existing credit cards

GCD Payment Types Online acceptance payment options can be enabled at global or org level If contract amount <= Credit card threshold amount, credit card is the only payment option available during online acceptance At the org level, payment options can have a Yes, No or Null value

Online Acceptance Portal Customer Comments and Reason for decline captured and saved on contract Both accept and decline clauses have tokens to include Vendor Operating Unit and Customer party in the text

Online Acceptance Portal Customer can request salesrep for assistance on a specific contract Salesrep email and subject are defaulted Customer comments are tracked as interaction on the contract

Communication Templates • Integration with XML Publisher supports user-defined layout templates for customer communication documents • Templates for multiple processes: Template Set setup functionality has been enhanced to support templates for different processes – Online and Manual processes for both new and renewal contracts • Language Support enables a single Template setup to support multiple languages

Define Template Set

Template Setup on GCD Layout template required on the GCD If template language not specified, default language of the template setup in xml publisher definition is used Template set and language can also be defined for contract org and party

Communication Template • Profile option 'OKS: Layout Template Source' will no longer be supported • Menu links in Service Contracts Manager responsibility (OKC Print Contract Setup) will not be available. • No automatic migration path for Template Sets setup using OKC Print Contract solution. • Pre-R12 customers have to manually redesign the layouts templates, define the Template Sets and associate it in GCD.

Flexible Approval Rules • Standard contract approval workflow integrates with Oracle Approvals Management (AME) to drive the approval process • Standard approvals management features such as rules based approval routing, definition of approval groups are supported • Use the ‘Approvals Management Business Analyst’ responsibility to view or modify AME setup • Seeded Information for Service Contracts – OKS Transaction Type – Service Contract attributes • Profile option OKC: Contract Approver no longer be supported.

Flexible Approval Rules Setup • Create new Service Contract Attributes in AME • Define an AME Condition based on the attributes • Define an AME Approval Group containing approvers as members • Define an Action in AME • Define a Rule based on Conditions and Actions

Flexible Approval Rules Setup – 1. Creating New Attributes Seeded attributes available for defining Conditions • Contract ID • Operating Unit • Customer Party • Contract Category • Contract Amount

Define AME Conditions Condition Type can be Ordinary or Exception. All Seeded attributes available for defining Conditions Condition is CONTRACT_AMOUNT > 5000 and less than 25,000

Define AME Approval Group Selected Approver for this approval group

Define an AME Action Action defined will be used later in the approval rule

Define rules

Test Approval Rules Once the approval rules have been created the AME test workbench can be used to test the conditions When the test case is run, the following pages displays the derived approver

Auto-Reminder Process • Auto-reminder process has been enhanced to send reminders for both manual and online renewals • Contract Administrators also have the ability to disable or enable reminders for contracts that they do not wish to send reminders to customers • Template set for the contract has to be setup to send reminders on specific intervals before current contract expiration

Auto-Reminder Process • Auto-reminder process can be used for both manual and online contracts • Online Contracts: Process will select all contracts for which quote has been published online • Manual Contracts – Contract Status will be used to send reminders – When the auto-reminder process request is run, the first reminder will be sent and the contract will be flagged with a reminder sent flag – Subsequent reminders will be send automatically

Auto-Reminder Process For manual reminders, the contract status has to be specified as a parameter This will typically be a one time setup In this example, the auto-reminder process is set to send reminders for all contracts in ‘Quote Sent’ status

Benefits – Renewal Negotiation Lifecycle Management • Managing the renewal contract using workflow has several benefits. • Salesreps and managers can now monitor all contracts and know where in the process a contract is in. This will aid in removing bottlenecks in the process. • Workflow sends several automated external and internal notifications regarding actions that users need to take. • Internal notifications help salesreps in managing contracts they are responsible for. External notifications make communicating with customers easy and fast.

Benefits – Administrator Workbench • Increases Contract Administrator efficiency by providing a single place to view and act on in- process contracts • Improves usability through consolidated, personalized views of contracts in-process, and drilldowns to contract details

Benefits – Online Acceptance Portal • Reduces manual processes and paperwork to obtain customer acceptance • Increase sales person efficiency by automating customer acceptance • Improves customer satisfaction by providing enhanced payment methods and document upload capabilities online

Benefits – Communication Templates • Contract Administrators can now define whether a set of document templates is used for new contracts or renewal contracts • Users also have the option to specify whether document templates should be used for salesrep managed contracts or for online acceptance contracts • Reduces setup time required to setup templates for various languages.

Benefits – Flexible Approval Rules • Increased flexibility in creating sophisticated approval rules based on contract attributes • Streamlines approvals by enabling approvals in parallel . For example, Business and Legal approvals can be in parallel • Approval hierarchy can be defined based on approval limits and other business logic

Benefits - Auto-Reminder Process • Enables contract administrators to remind customers that contracts need their attention • Automates reminder process for both manual and online contracts • Reduces contract leakage

Q&A Thank You

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Oracle Service Contracts Lifecycle Management

by Mohan Dutt

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